


From the Bottom of My Heart

by ShowMeAHero



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Holidays, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-11 13:41:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8982247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShowMeAHero/pseuds/ShowMeAHero
Summary: It's Finn's first real Christmas - or so Poe and Rey have been saying - and there are so many traditions and experiences that Poe wants to share with him. Finn is both overwhelmed and happier than he has ever been.alternative title: the twelve gays days of Christmas, cavity-style





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally titled: "AU Where Finn Was in Foster Care for a Long Time and Then He Was a Soldier and Has Been Spending Christmas Alone Since Because He Doesn't Really Have Any Friends, but He's 25 Now and He Started Dating Poe in February and They Just Started Living Together and He and Rey Were Roommates Before Poe Moved in So Now All Three of Them Are Roommates and It's Finn's First Real Christmas with a Family and Everything So Rey and Poe Want to Make It Real Good," but that was too long, so I switched it up a bit.
> 
> Title pulled from "[Feliz Navidad](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihW56Xa3XGQ)". Happy Holidays!

**_November 25th_ **

“What the fuck are you doing?” Finn asked, rubbing at his eye with the heel of his hand. Poe was digging through the hall closet, still in his pajama pants, distractingly shirtless. He straightened up and craned his head back to look at Finn.

“Why are you awake already?” Poe asked back, frowning a little. Finn motioned vaguely in his direction, then at the boxes near his feet on the hall floor. “Oh. It’s Black Friday.”

“And?” Finn prompted, when Poe chose not to elaborate. Poe grinned and stepped back to pop one of the boxes open, pulling one ornament out of a cluster of them inside the box. He held the brightly-painted ceramic bell out to Finn, who took it gingerly, turning it over between his hands.

“My grandmother made that,” Poe told him, stepping over a box to stand at Finn’s side, arm settling loose around Finn’s shoulders. “Long time ago.” He kissed Finn’s cheek and retreated back to the closet. “We always decorated the day after Thanksgiving.”

“For _Christmas?_ ” Finn looked up, incredulous. “There’s no way we’re already decorating for Christmas. It’s still November.”

“But Christmas is next,” Poe explained, still smiling. He hauled another box out of the closet. “So, we have to decorate for it next.”

“Did you even have all these boxes when you moved in?” Finn asked, replacing the ornament in its package before picking his way through the boxes on his way to the shower, and Poe hurried to follow after him.

“You don’t seem to have any decorations,” Poe commented, when they were in the shower, Finn scrubbing shampoo into Poe’s hair. “I haven’t found any, anyways.”

“I have a box of my old stuff somewhere,” Finn answered. “I don’t have much. I’ve never been able to decorate much, there wasn’t much drive for it in the home I was in, then I really didn’t have precedent once I was out of the system. I tried my best, but I really didn’t do much.” Poe turned around to face him, shampoo sliding down one side of his face. Finn thumbed it away from the corner of his eye. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize.” He tipped in and up to kiss Finn. “We’ll celebrate this year. We’ll celebrate _hard_. If you want to celebrate Christmas, that is, I didn’t-”

“Christmas sounds fine,” Finn interrupted, and Poe smiled at him before a glob of shampoo fell into his eyes and he yelped.

“What the hell was that?” Rey asked from outside the shower, and Poe jumped backwards so aggressively he slammed his head into the shower wall. Finn stuck his head out of the curtain.

“Poe got shampoo in his eye,” Finn told her. She was perched on the closed toilet seat, toothbrush in her mouth. “How’d you sleep?”

“Why is she in here?” Poe exclaimed, shoving his head under the water, eyes squeezed shut, rubbing at the back of his skull. Rey frowned around her toothbrush.

“I lived here first,” Rey called back. “Finn and I used to talk while he showered all the time. You’re new, you’re still learning.”

“She’s in the bathroom, Finn,” Poe murmured piteously, trying to wash the soap out of his eyes. Finn rolled his eyes at Rey, the both of them grinning, before ducking back into the shower to help rinse Poe off. “She scared me.”

“You’re a grown-ass man,” Finn teased. “Besides, she’s right, we did do this a lot. You’ve only been here a few weeks.”

“And I gave you a grace period,” Rey shouted over the curtains before apparently running the water in the sink. “But now that’s over and I need the bathroom, too.”

“She can’t shower with us,” Poe told him, and Rey laughed outside the curtain.

“Try and stop me!” she called back, and Poe grinned, getting shampoo in his mouth. Finn shoved his whole head under the water. “Are we decorating for Christmas, by the way? I didn’t even know we had any decorations, man.”

“We don’t,” Finn answered, pulling Poe’s head back up. Poe whipped his hair back out of his eyes and rubbed at his face. “Poe, apparently, brought a closet full of decorations with him when he moved in.”

“I’m surprised you guys didn’t have anything,” Poe said, holding his hand outside the shower. “Can I have the mouthwash?”

Rey passed the mouthwash to him and Finn tugged the curtain back to look at Rey, who had one eyebrow raised.

“You’re surprised the poor little orphans didn’t have any Christmas traditions after they aged out of the system?” Rey commented, swinging her legs on the toilet seat. Poe spit the mouthwash and shrugged.

“Fair point.” He capped the mouthwash bottle and tossed it back at Rey. “Well, in any case, you’re getting a real Christmas this year.”

“Finn’s first Christmas that isn’t sad as shit,” Rey chimed in, grinning when Finn let the curtain fall shut again. Poe scratched at Finn’s scalp with his nails, and Finn smiled at him.

“What about you?” Poe asked, and Rey probably shrugged. Poe ducked his head under Finn’s chin and let the water fall down over their heads.

“I got Christmas in, like, minor ways,” Rey answered. “Unkar put up a shitty little tree, I watched the specials on TV. I did some of that after I was out of that place, too. Real Christmases, just not good ones.”

“We didn’t really celebrate Christmas over there,” Finn told him. He knew he rarely talked about his life from when he was a soldier, but context felt important to give. Especially since the most either of them knew came from the scars on his chest and back and the Purple Heart that he hid in the drawer of his nightstand. “And I missed Christmas with Rey the past couple years while I was gone. So, yeah. This being my first real Christmas is not too far off.”

“Then we’ll make it a good one,” Poe promised, reaching around him for the body wash. Finn grinned, leaning to kiss him, and he heard Rey’s feet hit the floor.

“I’m going to go make breakfast,” Rey declared loudly, the bathroom door slamming behind her. Poe smiled.

“I can’t wait to decorate,” Poe whispered, and Finn groaned, mostly out of good humor, partly out of fear. He managed to get body wash in his eye this time; Poe held his head under the water and scrubbed at him with a washcloth until they were both laughing.

Breakfast consisted of white rice with soy sauce mixed in and a side of Eggo waffles, because Rey was a scavenger at the best of times and had a habit of eating whatever she found whenever she found it. She motioned towards the food on the kitchen island with her fork before continuing to mash her rice and waffles up together in a bowl.

“Now, I don’t have many decorations,” Rey told them. “I have some ornaments I’ve made over the years, you know. I’ve got some lights. Um… I think I have a plastic poinsettia, maybe?”

“And I’ve got a couple ornaments,” Finn chimed in. The two of them turned to Poe, waiting. Poe raised an eyebrow back, considering.

“Alright, so, we’ll do what we can,” he said, eventually, and Finn grinned, shoving a forkful of rice and waffle in his mouth.

Decorating took much more time than Finn would have expected it could take. Poe had an absurd amount of decorations from his childhood, little baubles and so many strings of lights. He took to climbing up onto Finn’s shoulders when he was too short to reach to hang the ends of lights, the two of them pinning strand after strand along the ceilings, the walls. Halfway through, Poe opened a box and furrowed his brow.

“What’s wrong?” Finn asked. Poe got up and walked into their living room. “Poe? What is it?”

“We forget to get a fucking _tree_ ,” Poe informed him, staring at the empty space he had likely been planning to put a tree in. Finn peered at the box he had opened and found it full of ornaments. Poe turned around and grabbed his jacket. Rey popped up from where she was sprawled on the sofa, yawning and rubbing at her face.

“Are we going somewhere?” Rey asked, watching as Poe shoved his boots on. Finn grinned and started searching for his keys.

“We’re getting a tree, Rey,” Poe called over his shoulder as he disappeared into his and Finn’s bedroom. He emerged with his winter beanie tugged over his head. He tossed Finn his hat and took the keys when they were thrown his way. Rey heaved herself up off the couch to get ready for the cold before following them out the door.

“What kind of trees have you gotten in the past?” Poe asked as the three of them rode in Finn’s truck to the tree farm in the next town over. Rey shrugged.

“I had plastic ones, mostly,” Rey told them. “Unkar’s shitty little tree was fake, he was allergic to pine. It was dusty, though, he never cleaned it, so I can’t imagine that was much better.”

“I put up whatever tree I could find that would fit in my place,” Finn offered. “We didn’t have trees overseas, though.”

“No, they do not,” Poe agreed, taking a gentle curve into the tree farm. Finn, squeezed between Rey and Poe in the front seat, dropped his head down so his cheek pressed into the crown of Rey’s head. He watched the muscles in Poe’s forearms pull as he parked the truck.

“Well, this year, we’ll get something big and full and perfect,” Poe exclaimed as they locked the truck up and headed for the entrance of the tree farm. Rey peered up at Finn, who shrugged, even if he could not get his face to stop smiling. Poe led them down aisle after aisle of trees, sizing each one up and asking their opinions on the ones he approved of.

“What about this one?” Rey shouted from the next aisle over, and Poe shoved himself between trees to get to her. Finn waited on the other side, poking around at the trees surrounding him. He heard Poe disagree, the trees shifting slightly as he twisted Rey’s find around and discovered some flaw with it. Finn shoved his hands in his pockets, cold without the gloves he forgot at home, and sized up the tree in front of him. It seemed like any other tree to him. The next one was average, too. And the next one. And the-

Hmm.

“Hey, Poe?” Finn called out, and Poe reemerged from the trees, Rey at his heels.

“What’s up, buddy?” Poe asked, and Finn motioned to the tree in front of him.

“What do you think of this one?” Finn offered, and Poe turned so he was facing the tree squarely. He sized the tree up, then stepped forward, turning it around, inspecting all its sides. Rey got distracted by a squirrel running alongside the trees and followed it back to the parking lot, darting in front of it to chase it back into the dead grass.

“I think you found the perfect tree,” Poe answered, slinging his arm across Finn’s shoulders and hauling him in to kiss his forehead. “Good work.”

Finn shrugged, shoving his hands in his pockets, and Poe kissed him hard on the cheek, shoving their heads together as they looked the tree over. Finn could admit, he could imagine tinsel and ornaments and all sorts of crap on the tree. It would look beautiful in their living room, if they could manage to get it in there.

“Love you,” Poe said, somewhere near his ear, and Finn turned his head to catch his mouth, grinning.

“Love you, too.” He stepped forward to help Poe bundle the tree up. Rey helped him carry it out to the truck while Poe paid for it, and the three of them raced home, the broken passenger side window letting cold air whip them in the faces. Finn turned up the Christmas music on the radio and let it blast so they could hear it as they unpacked the tree at their apartment and dragged it up the stairs.

“You were right,” Finn admitted, when the tree was finally set up in the living room, in the exact empty spot Poe had left for it. Poe dropped his hands to his hips and studied the tree from each angle, adjusting it slightly here and there. Rey jogged back into the apartment from locking up the truck. “It looks great.”

“Good find, Finn,” Rey said, clapping Finn on the back. She checked the time on her phone and kissed them each on the cheek. “I got work early. I’ll see you two tomorrow.”

“Goodnight, Rey,” Finn and Poe said at the same time, Poe still studying the tree as Rey left. Finn came up beside him, holding the ceramic bell he had found that morning. Poe kissed him briefly before nudging him forward.

“Hang it up,” Poe urged, and Finn hesitantly reached out and hung it off a branch at eye-level. He stepped back, shoving his hand in the back pocket of Poe’s jeans, and let Poe rest his head on Finn’s shoulder. Poe sighed lightly. “It looks beautiful.”

“So do you,” Finn commented, and Poe shoved at him before turning to grab the rest of the ornaments and lights and garland and God knows what else he had in the box.

“Keep decorating, elf,” Poe instructed, handing him a clay star ornament. Finn stretched up above him to hang it high. The two of them worked efficiently, Christmas music trickling from the television as they decorated the tree. When Poe shut off the lamps after they finished, the two of them curled up on the sofa, staring at the tree, the lights, the decorations. Finn stretched out, legs hanging off the arm of the couch, head in Poe’s lap. Poe absently scratched at Finn’s scalp.

“It looks nice,” Finn said softly, and Poe’s fingertip traced the shell of his ear.

“Yeah, it does,” Poe agreed. Finn glanced up at him to find Poe already looking down into his face. He bent in half to kiss Finn’s forehead. “It sure does.”

* * *

**_November 27th_ **

Finn pulled his truck into the parking lot of their apartment building to find Poe’s motorcycle already back. Usually, Poe stayed late at the garage, and Finn got home from the elementary school long before Poe did. He did not, however, see Rey’s huge old Chrysler, so he figured he didn’t miss or forget anything.

“Poe?” Finn called, sticking his head around the corner after finding the front door to their apartment unlocked. He found Poe in the living room, standing in front of the side table under one of their windows. He grinned, hands behind his back. “What did you do?”

“How was your day?” Poe asked, rocking back on his heel in place instead of coming forward to greet him. Finn pulled the front door shut behind him, frowning.

“What did you do, Poe?” Finn repeated, and Poe kept smiling as he beckoned Finn forward.

“I know you thought it was too early for Christmas stuff,” Poe told him, and Finn groaned, starting to smile despite himself.

“It’s still _November_ ,” Finn interrupted him, and Poe took his hand when he was close enough to reach, squeezing his fingers. Finn fought the urge to look over Poe’s shoulder at whatever he was hiding.

“But, you know, in Guatemala, this is the first day of advent,” Poe informed him. He stepped aside and let Finn look at his hidden setup, which turned out to be an intricate wreath, laying horizontally on the side table, five candles arranged inside of the hollow middle. “You light one candle every weekend. You light that one there,” and here he pointed to the white candle in the middle, “on Christmas Eve.” He reached over behind the table and pulled up two cheap children’s advent calendars. He handed one to Finn. “I also got us these.”

“Oh, Poe,” Finn murmured, taking the advent calendar. He looked at the wreath again, then the calendar, a cartoon of Santa grinning up at him. He glanced at Poe, who was still half-smiling, waiting for his reaction.

“My grandparents did the wreath with me when I was really young,” Poe explained, worrying the edge of the cardboard calendar with his hand. “And my parents did it. And, now, I wanted to do it with you. If that’s okay.”

“Of course that’s okay,” Finn agreed, and Poe came forward to embrace him, burying his face in Finn’s neck. Finn set his calendar down to wrap his arms around Poe. “I love it, Poe. Good work on this.”

“Thanks,” Poe answered, turning his head to survey his handiwork. He fished a lighter out of his pocket and handed it over to Finn. “Care to do the honors?”

“Which one do I light?” Finn asked, taking the lighter and flicking the flame between his fingers. Poe motioned vaguely.

“Just as long as you don’t pick the white one, whichever you’d like.” Poe weaved his hand together with Finn’s as Finn reached out and lit one of the red candles glittering inside the wreath. “Thank you, Finn.”

“Thank _you_ ,” Finn gave back, handing the lighter over, and Poe kissed his cheek.

“Rey’s not home for another two hours,” Poe pointed out, glancing at the clock on their mantle. Finn reached out and slung Poe over his shoulder, his boyfriend laughing somewhere near the small of his back as he hauled him off. He sprinted back into the living room to put out the candle in the wreath, just in case it burned too low and caught the wreath, before jogging back to Poe.

* * *

**_December 1st_ **

“Merry Christmas,” Poe whispered over Finn’s face, and Finn swatted at him, groaning, his eyes squeezing shut tighter.

“Goddamnit, what time is it?” Finn grumbled. He cracked one eye open to see Poe smiling down at him, face messy with grease and oil, hair slicked back with sweat. “Oh, God, Poe.”

“It’s almost eleven,” Poe told him, offering him a hand up from the sofa he had fallen asleep on while he was working on his lesson plans. Finn took it and yanked Poe down on top of him, kissing him firmly. Poe laughed into his mouth. “Sorry, I was late at the garage. I’ve missed you today.”

“That’s okay,” Finn yawned, letting Poe settle his dirty head under his chin. “Ready for bed?”

“Hell no,” Poe answered, turning his head to prop his chin on Finn’s chest. He grinned, teeth white against the oil on his face. “We haven’t done our belén.”

“Our what?” Finn asked, and Poe stood, holding out his hands for Finn to take, hauling him up when they locked fingers. Poe vanished down the hall, and Finn could hear him rooting through the hall closet. “You know I don’t speak-”

“Nacimiento!” Poe called to him, reemerging with a box from the hall closet. He handed Finn the box so he could shimmy out of his jacket and boots, leaving them by the doorway. He cleared off the little table beside the table with the wreath and motioned for Finn to come forwards.

“You have a lot of traditions,” Finn commented, as Poe started pulling out smaller boxes from inside the larger box, the two of them kneeling beside the table. Rey emerged from her room, rubbing at her eyes and yawning. When she saw the two of them still decorating, she turned on her heel and head right back into her room.

“I hope that’s okay,” Poe replied, unpacking the last little box, setting the individual pieces aside. He glanced up at Finn. “I know you don’t really have any. I just… I guess I wanted to share. With you. Specifically. Because I love you. And I want to-”

“Okay,” Finn interrupted, pulling Poe in to kiss his forehead. “Of course it’s okay. I was just saying. I love that we’re making our own traditions. I hope we can keep doing that, you know?”

“I know.” Poe reached out and squeezed his hand, grinning. For a moment, it didn’t even matter how dirty he was, or that he was keeping him up to continue decorating, or that Finn had to be up early the next morning and his lesson plan wasn’t totally finished yet. “This is my belén. I thought we could do it together.”

“What is it?” Finn asked, and Poe lifted one box and popped it open, pulling out an intricate clay figurine of a camel, looking like it might have been hand-painted, maybe even hand-carved. “Oh, wow, what is this? A zoo?”

“‘A zoo,’ he says,” Poe teased, opening another box and pulling out a figurine of a small, beautiful woman. He held it out. “Virgin Mary. Nacimiento? The nativity scene.”

“Oh, I didn’t know you were that religious,” Finn commented hesitantly, letting Poe take the figurines back. He started setting them up on the little table in front of them.

“I’m not,” Poe replied, pushing the figurines into place with exceeding precision. Finn started on unboxing all the figurines for him. “This is just another thing, you know. I just used to do this every year, and now that my… Well, I inherited the family set.” Poe pushed a lamb into place as Finn tentatively set up the three wise men. “Good spot.”

“Thanks.” Finn looked down at his hands, playing with a small box between his fingers. “Thank you.”

“Well, it was a good spot,” Poe laughed, glancing to Finn. “Hey. What’s up, buddy?”

“I appreciate it,” Finn offered, softly, and Poe reached out to reel Finn in, kissing him gently. When Finn touched Poe’s face, his hand came away slick with grease, and he grimaced.

“Let’s wrap this up and take a shower,” Poe suggested, and Finn nodded eagerly, leaving Poe to set the last couple of figurines and small houses up and put the boxes back together.

“Jesus?” Finn asked, motioning down to the nativity set as Poe closed the box up.

“Just Poe is fine,” Poe shot back. He grinned. “What’s up?”

“No, I mean, where’s Jesus?” Finn asked, and Poe handed him the box.

“We don’t put Jesus in until Christmas Eve,” Poe informed him. He pushed one of the clay roads to the left slightly, fixing the bush beside it to follow. “He’s not born yet, Finn. Do I have to explain how babies are made?”

“I’m more of a tactile learner,” Finn answered, and Poe gave him a bruising kiss before heading off for the shower, Finn on his heels, the Virgin Mary watching on with painted, disapproving eyes.

* * *

**_December 7th_ **

“Oh, man, Poe, what the hell are you doing now?” Finn asked, watching as Poe rummaged through their trash at 5:55 on the dot. His boyfriend was trying to find loose papers, apparently. He had a wet broom next to him and a pile of sticks.

“I’m getting ready to burn the devil out of the house,” Poe explained, pulling out a handful of old papers and shutting the trash can lid. “Wanna come outside and burn this shit with me?”

Finn hesitated, then shrugged. “Sure.”

When the two of them got to the back of their building, Rey was already out there, standing behind a tiny bonfire made of sticks and leaves and useless little papers. Poe dropped his sticks and loose papers on it and pulled his lighter out. He offered the lighter and a piece of paper to Finn.

“Care to do the honors?” he offered, and Finn accepted them, lighting the paper and dropping it into the dinky little bonfire. Rey stuck her hands out to warm them over the growing fire.

“So, what’s this one, then?” Finn asked, chilly hands shoved in the pockets of his hoodie, Poe’s chilly hands shoved in the back pockets of Finn’s pants.

“We’re supposed to burn the devil out of the house in preparation for Christmas,” Poe explained. He reached into the pockets of his jackets and pulled out little papier-mâché devils with wicks on them. “Got some firecrackers, too, polvora. We can light them up and then sweep the devil out of our apartment with holy water.” Poe pulled out the lighter again and waited until Rey had cleared a spot on the frozen ground before setting it down and setting it off.

“It’s _freezing_ out,” Finn commented, and Poe nudged him closer to the little bonfire.

“Now the devil can’t kill Santa,” Rey remarked, grinning, setting off her own set of devil-shaped firecrackers. “He can still bring us presents and eat our food.”

“Maybe he’ll bring us a puppy,” Finn suggested, and Rey laughed.

“Santa doesn’t have that kind of space,” Poe told him, setting off some more firecrackers. Someone leaned out their apartment window to shout at them in Spanish, and Poe shouted back, brow furrowing as he did so. Finn reached out and smoothed out his forehead with his thumb.

“At least I stopped him from putting gasoline on it,” Rey pointed out, and Finn rolled his eyes, smiling away. Rey and Poe stamped out the bonfire and cleaned up the leftover ashes while Finn picked up the papier-mâché pieces from the dead grass. They left the trash in the dumpster and made their way back inside, huffing on their hands to warm up their frozen joints.

“Now, we sweep him right out,” Poe informed them, picking up the wet broom and motioning to it. “It’s got holy water on it.”

“The devil can’t get in here,” Rey laughed, and Poe grinned, starting to sweep from the end of the apartment out.

“Not if he’s gone down to Georgia,” Finn offered, following at Poe’s heels as he swept briskly, all the way through the apartment and out the door. Rey cuffed him in the back of the head. Poe finished sweeping and set the broom aside, wrapping one arm around Rey’s shoulders and the other arm around Finn’s.

“We’re safe now,” Rey told them, and Poe squeezed them.

“Poe Dameron, you’re my hero,” Finn teased, leaning in to kiss Poe’s cheek, and Poe laughed.

“And don’t you forget it.” Poe kissed Finn’s temple and smacked him on the ass, ignoring Rey’s dramatic faux-retching and eye-rolling.

* * *

**_December 8th_ **

“You have to stop surprising me like this,” Finn said as soon as he walked in the door to their apartment, their small kitchen table weighed down with an absurd amount of food. Poe glanced up at him from where he was lighting two white candles in the middle of the table. “What’s this all for? I thought you were working late at the garage tonight.”

“I just wanted to throw you off.” Poe gestured to the food in front of him. “Feast of the Virgin of Immaculate Conception. It’s another tradition.”

“You’re just full of traditions, aren’t you?” Finn said, while simultaneously thinking how lucky he was to have Poe, how last year at this time he was overseas, feeling isolated, alone, separate from the rest of the world. How the few years before that he was much the same, and how the years before those he was lost in the disgusting mess of his city’s foster care disaster. He thought about how fortunate he was to have Poe, and to have Rey, and to have any kinds of traditions being offered to him. He stood, staring at Poe, who stood behind the kitchen table, three plates set, smiling widely. The tree was lit, the lights twinkling from the walls and the ceilings, and Poe was grinning like Finn had hung the moon. “I love you.”

“I love _you_.” Poe motioned him forwards before calling over his shoulder for Rey, who came barreling down the hall and took her seat at the table.

“This the feast for Mary?” Rey asked, shoving a roll of bread in her mouth and ripping it in half with her teeth. Finn shrugged as Poe poured them all wine.

“Why not?” Poe answered, and Rey smacked him on the shoulder, taking her wine and swallowing a mouthful around the bread she was still chewing. Poe watched the two of them, Finn hyper-aware of his sharp attention as he started to eat. “I’m grateful for you guys.”

“Yeah?” Finn asked, biting off a mouthful of chicken breast. Poe nodded.

“Yeah.” He pushed at the white rice on his plate, smiling a little down at his fork. Finn’s heart tripped in his chest, warming all the way up to his throat and down to his knees. “I just… Yeah. My parents haven’t been around for a while, and you guys…” He shrugged, shoveling white rice into his mouth. “That’s all. I’m just grateful.”

“I love you, too, Poe,” Finn replied, reaching out to reel Poe in and kiss him. Rey smacked him on the shoulder, smiling around her mouthful of food.

“I’m grateful for you guys, too,” Rey agreed, squeezing his hand before returning to her meal. “Thanks for moving in and not sucking. I like you a lot.”

“Thanks, Rey,” Poe laughed, taking the toast and clinking of glasses that Finn offered to them both. Rey almost shoved her glass into theirs too hard, just on the right side of nearly cracking their glasses.

“I have white chocolate and almond pound cake for dessert, so pace yourself,” Poe informed Rey as she ripped off a piece of chicken breast, and she shoved the whole rest of the piece into her mouth at once, while Finn snorted on his white wine from laughing so hard.

* * *

**_December 9th_ **

Finn knocked at the door to Poe’s garage, waiting for someone to come and unlock it so he could bring in something for Poe to eat. Jess Pava jogged up to the back door and waved at him, unlocking the bolts on the door and motioning him into the heated space, shivering from the wind that got in with Finn.

“He’s under the red number in the back,” Jess told him, leading him through to where Poe was underneath a hot rod, face half-hidden and twisted in concentration as he worked. “Hey, boss!”

“What’s up, Testor?” Poe called back, still distracted by his work. Jess smiled and crouched down to get Poe’s attention.

“Your little elf’s here,” Jess told him, and Poe jerked his head up without thinking, slamming it into the underside of the car. Finn flinched, half-laughing, as Poe emerged, grinning up at him. “I’ll go help Snap with the Charger.”

“You do that,” Poe agreed, sliding himself out from under the car. Finn offered him his bag of Tupperware containers, and Poe motioned him into the back. He scrubbed his hands and face down in the sink while Finn laid out the food on the rickety little break room table.

“What’d you bring me?” Poe asked, drying his hands on a dish towel as he sat down. Finn popped the lids on his boxes.

“Leftovers from yesterday.” He stood up to reheat the chicken in the microwave. Poe turned to watch him, halfway through shoveling cold rice into his mouth. He was smiling, though, happy as a pig in shit. He tilted his head up, and Finn kissed his forehead before setting the chicken down. “How’s work been?”

“It’s been fine,” Poe answered, before launching into a lengthy diatribe against the Ford custom job he had been working on before Finn showed up, eating the whole while. Finn kept his chin in his hand, nodding in all the right places, mostly fixated on the cadence of Poe’s voice as he spoke and the expressions on his face. His eyes lingered on the scar under his right eye, pink against his tan skin, then traced to the soft curl of black hair lying against Poe’s temple. He reached out before he could stop himself, pushing Poe’s hair back away from his eyes.

“What’s up, buddy?” Poe asked softly, and Finn shrugged, pushing his hair back again before letting his hand trickle down to Poe’s jaw, his dark stubble gritty against his skin. Poe let his head rest in his palm.

“You’re the best,” Finn told him, and Poe smiled, letting Finn pull him in to kiss him. His mouth still tasted like alfredo.

“I better get back to work, shouldn’t I?” Poe said, and Finn nodded, but neither of them got up. Finn finally sighed and made the first move, starting to repackage the remains and bringing the empty containers to the sink to wash out. Poe stood, stretching his arms above his head, burying his face in the back of Finn’s neck and exhaling slowly.

“You’re pretty distracting, you know that?” Finn commented, the scratch of Poe’s stubble on his neck grounding him.

“I could say the same about you.” Poe reached around to track his hand up Finn’s torso, from waist to throat. “I have a job to do, you know.”

“I know.” Finn handed over a container for Poe to dry; Poe sighed, but head to his work, drying for him. Finn tried not to get too distracted by how handsome Poe was at his side, calloused hands busy drying.

“So,” Finn said, packing the empty containers back up into the bag. Poe lingered in the doorway to the break room, watching him arrange and rearrange the Tupperware so it all fit.

“So,” Poe echoed, arms folded over his chest, smirking. Finn slung the bag across his chest and came to stand across from him in the doorway. Poe pointedly glanced up, and Finn frowned. Poe did it again.

“What is this? What are you doing?” Finn asked, and Poe reached out to take Finn by the chin, tilting his head back. “Oh.”

Mistletoe hung from the doorway above their heads, and Poe only let Finn look at it for a moment more before he used the hand on his face to pull him in for a searing kiss. Finn took his hands off his bag to wind them in Poe’s hair, tugging him in closer so their bodies aligned. Poe laughed breathlessly into his mouth.

“Merry Christmas,” Poe whispered to him, and Finn grinned.

“Still sixteen more days,” Finn corrected him, and Poe shoved him towards the door.

* * *

**_December 16th_ **

“Alright,” Finn asked from the kitchen, two glasses in front of him as he watched Poe set out little tin and paper lanterns around the windowsills of the living room. “What’s this one?”

“Farolitos,” Poe explained, arranging them just so, by color and size and the patterns on the sides of them. Finn tossed him a lighter from their junk drawer, Poe catching it expertly as he turned to light the first tin lantern. He cracked one of the windows open and tossed it up wide, pulling the screen out of place so the cold wind whipped him right in the face. “We used to have this parade, when I was little, in town. Once we moved here, we just did them inside.” He beckoned Finn closer.

Finn set their two glasses of eggnog on the low coffee table and took Poe’s hand when it was offered to him. Poe lit one of the paper lanterns and handed it over, motioning towards the window. Finn pushed his hand up and out, sending the paper lantern soaring into the air outside. The wind caught it and picked it up, the flickering red of the firelight and the glowing yellow of the lantern twisting further up into the night sky. Finn craned his neck to watch it until it vanished from their line of sight.

“And you do this every year?” Finn asked, watching as Poe nodded and lit another lantern and sent it up to follow its twin. After all of the lanterns were sent up, the last one blinking out of existence miles above their heads, Poe finished lighting the wicks in the tin lanterns. Finn collapsed back against the sofa, exhausted from another day spent with six-year-olds who were getting almost as excited about the holidays as Poe was. Poe handed him his glass of eggnog and pressed up snug against his side.

“All of this, I used to do every year,” Poe told him. “I’ve been doing it by myself for a little while now. To be honest with you, I kept doing it after… well, after, trying to keep my heart in it. Jess and Temmin and them, they’d do it with me if I asked, but I felt badly, you know. Taking them away from their own families.” Poe took a sip from his eggnog and laughed. “Did you spike this?”

“Cognac and rum,” Finn confirmed, and Poe leaned up to kiss him on the cheek before nestling back into his side. Poe sipped at his drink. “I’m glad your heart is back in it.”

“Me, too, buddy,” Poe murmured back. Finn reached up to scratch at Poe’s scalp, running his fingers through his thick hair. Poe sighed and shut his eyes. Finn kept drinking from his eggnog, watching the small flames flicker inside the tin lanterns along the windowsills as Poe fell asleep beside him. Finn wrapped his arm around Poe’s shoulders and enjoyed the quiet.

* * *

**_December 21st_ **

“Jesus Christ, Poe, with the feast days,” Finn commented, stretching out on the sofa. Rey was already sprawled on the floor in front of the cold, dark fireplace, rubbing her face against the carpet like a sleepy cat. “You’re dangerous.”

“You know, back in Guatemala, there’s a whole acrobatic show for Dia de Santo Tomas,” Poe informed him, handing Rey a cup of water before crouching in front of the fireplace. “Maybe we could give that a shot.”

“In your dreams,” Rey muttered, voice muffled by the floor. Poe dragged the fire screen out of the way of the fireplace and started precariously stacking some of their small stash of wood inside.

“What are you doing?” Finn asked, watching curiously with one eye, since the other half of his face was smashed into one of the sofa pillows. Poe turned back to grin at him, tipping his face sideways to straighten out his vision.

“What’s Christmas without a fire?” Poe replied, striking a match with their loose kindling and tossing it into the fireplace. He stoked it for a few moments, crouching in front of their fireplace. Rey hauled herself up to the sofa, curling up on the backs of Finn’s legs and yawning wide enough that her jaw audibly cracked. Poe scooted back to sit against the front of the sofa, his head right next to Finn’s. Finn leaned forward to bury his face in his hair.

“It’s almost Christmas,” Poe reminded him quietly. Finn snorted.

“Oh, I know,” Finn replied. “The kids won’t let me forget. We have a countdown on the wall in the classroom. I’m reminded every twenty minutes.”

“That rarely, eh?” Poe turned his head around to look at him. He reached up to thumb at Finn’s face, tracing the pad of his finger across Finn’s bottom lip, down to his chin, sweeping up to the curve of his cheekbone. Finn watched his face, how his eyes tracked over Finn’s features before they settled to make eye contact with him.

“You’re gonna be the death of me,” Finn murmured, and Poe grinned.

“But what a way to go.” Poe leaned in to kiss him, gently, the fireplace crackling behind him. Rey swatted at Finn’s back.

“Can you two be normal and quit making me into a third wheel, please? Thanks,” Rey muttered against Finn’s legs. Poe laughed and broke away from Finn, much to his dismay, to lean back against the sofa again. The three of them watched the fire roaring, down to the two of them once Rey fell asleep. Finn reached out to tangle his fingers with Poe’s as the fire snapped against the darkness of their apartment.

* * *

**_December 22nd_ **

“Get up,” Poe instructed Finn, standing over him where Finn at the kitchen table, working on the craft for the last school day before the holiday. Finn lifted his head, raising an eyebrow. “Please.”

“Why?” Finn asked, putting his paper reindeer down. Poe tugged him up to his feet by his elbow. “Poe-”

“It’s snowing,” Poe offered as an explanation. “I thought we could go for a walk, maybe. Thought it would be nice.”

Finn stared at him, then smiled. “Yeah, sure. Sounds nice.”

Poe shoved Finn’s arms through his coat and crammed his hat on his head, unwilling to let him be cold for very long at all. He led him outside into the snow, the two of them sharing the one pair of mittens they could find, keeping their uncovered hands tucked together in the pocket of Poe’s jacket. The snow flew into their faces as soon as they stepped outside, flakes sticking to their eyelashes, gusts of wind stealing their breath. Eventually, Poe steered them away from the city streets and towards the park, where the trees took the brunt of the weather.

“What made you want to go on a walk?” Finn asked as they tracked through the snow. Poe squeezed Finn’s hand in his pocket and kept up their slow pace, snow clinging to his face above his scarf.

“Just wanted to spend some time with you,” Poe answered. His attention seemed caught by everything around them: the bare branches rattling in the wind, the ice caked and shining on the trunks of trees, the snow that swirled around them like stars streaking past. Occasionally, he was distracted by Finn himself, and Finn wondered what he looked like that he put that look on Poe’s face. Poe dropped his head onto Finn’s shoulder as they walked.

“Are you having a good Christmas?” Finn asked, rubbing his thumb over Poe’s knuckles in his pocket. Poe nodded, snow sticking to his hair, his eyelashes, the shoulders of his jacket. Finn dusted him off.

“The best, I think, in a long time,” Poe answered, and Finn shivered. Poe pulled back to look at him for a split second before starting to shrug out of his coat.

“No, Poe-” Finn started to say, but Poe was already pushing Finn’s hands through the arms of the jacket.

“You’re not good with the cold,” Poe reminded him, zipping the jacket up on Finn and fastening the buckles. He tugged Finn’s hat down a little further, until it went down over his eyes, and Finn laughed. Poe leaned in to kiss him while he couldn’t see, both of their lips cold from the temperature and the snow. Finn could only take so long standing there in the cold, though, even if he was kissing his boyfriend, and Poe started nudging them back on the path towards their building, the two of them tangled up together the whole way back.

Once they were back inside, Poe putting hot chocolate in the microwave to heat up, Finn started shrugging out of his jacket, hanging it up on Poe’s hook. Poe reached over him to move the jacket back to Finn’s hook on their coat rack.

“Keep it,” Poe told him. “You’ll just keep getting cold. Besides,” and he flashed a grin, “it suits you.”

* * *

**_December 23rd_ **

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Finn said, when Rey emerged from her room in a full Christmas gown, red from neck to feet, a red and white cloak over her shoulders. Poe had braided her hair up for her and was standing beside her in a Victorian three-piece suit, complete with a green vest, a top hat, and a vibrant red scarf. Poe held out a bag to him.

“Have I ever been kidding when it came to Christmas?” Poe asked, shaking the bag a little. Finn took it, looked inside, and sighed when he saw a suit identical to Poe’s. He glanced back up at them, the two of them grinning in their costumes. Finn went into his bedroom and struggled into the suit, surprised by how well it fit. Poe knocked on the door and let himself in. He whistled when he saw Finn, grinning.

“If I knew how good you looked in a suit, I would’ve come up with an excuse to see it a long time ago,” Poe commented, coming forward to finish buttoning up Finn’s red vest, fastening his suit jacket over it. He wrapped a warm green scarf around Finn’s neck before tucking a top hat up on his head. “There. Perfect.”

“Don’t tell me we’re going to do what I think we’re going to do,” Finn pleaded, and Poe threw the door open, much to Rey’s delight. She had tied a bright red flower up in her hair and slipped her hands into a white muff while Finn was getting dressed.

“Of course we are,” Poe told him, and Rey grinned devilishly.

“ _Christmas caroling_ ,” she confirmed, and Finn groaned, even as he accepted the lyric sheets Poe gave to him. Rey made Finn hold her stuff while she lifted his scarf to fix his tie, then they were off, going through the entire building before taking to the streets. Once the sixth person had taken a picture with them, the flash on the camera making Finn blink, he had, essentially, accepted his fate. Poe’s repeated kisses on his face and squeezes of his hand and smacks on his ass helped a lot, too, though.

“There are so many days of Christmas, Poe,” Finn bemoaned after their most recent chorus of the song. Poe adjusted Finn’s scarf, tilting his top hat at a jaunty angle. Rey had long since put her earmuffs on over the red tips of her ears. “Why are there so many days?”

“Just to torture you.” Poe leaned up to kiss Finn on the cheek, then the mouth. “Pop quiz. Sixth day?”

“Geese,” Finn answered. He ducked his head to kiss Poe again, smiling when Poe nipped at his bottom lip, his teeth cold. “Love you.”

“Love you.” Poe pulled back and tapped at their lyric sheets. “You’re not getting out of it this easy, though.”

“Is this a tradition from your parents, too?” Finn asked, as they left the next house on the block. Poe shook his head.

“No, I thought we should try something new,” Poe answered. “Starting our own traditions, since it is our first Christmas together.”

“Ahh, well, Dameron, I guess I’ll forgive you for this,” Finn replied, motioning to himself, and Poe laughed, reeling Finn in by the tie, ignoring Rey hitting them with her muff as they kissed.

“Carolers!” a small voice shrieked from across the street, and Poe pulled back, grinning.

“Our work is never done,” Poe murmured before turning to the little children who had gathered and launching into his next song. Finn watched him fondly, heart constricting at the sight, even if Poe did look ridiculous in the damn hat.

* * *

**_December 24th_ **

“This has been the best Christmas _ever_ ,” Rey exclaimed from somewhere near the eggnog bowl, a gingerbread man in one hand and a happy smile on her face.

“You’re almost right,” Finn agreed, leaning against the counter in their apartment. The Christmas Eve party they were throwing had been going on for over an hour, well and truly swinging now. Karé and Iolo were playing a fierce game of strip chess in the corner, cheered on by L'Ulo and Oddy. Jess and Temmin were taunting one another on the sofa, a glass of eggnog each. Leia and Luke were gossiping to each other by the tree, Han’s tall and mostly quiet Turkish friend, who had only ever introduced himself as Chewie, standing behind Leia, his face half-hidden by his long hair and enormous beard. Han himself was in Poe’s armchair, talking animatedly to Poe about something or other as Poe lit the white Christmas Eve candle in the center of his wreath. Han and Leia’s son, Ben, stood beside Han, looking at something on his phone. Slip, Finn’s friend and fellow teacher from the elementary school he worked at, was sitting on the floor between the kitchen and the living room, playing with Luke’s two dogs, a blonde Irish Setter named Threepio and a little blue Chow named Artoo, apparently having the time of his life.

“How am I not right?” Rey asked, watching the scene in front of them, same as Finn. Finn shrugged, smiling.

“It’s _still_ not Christmas yet,” Finn reminded her, laughing when she smacked him on the arm, “despite you and Poe trying to say it is every single day this December.”

“Every day is Christmas if you believe,” Rey joked, grinning, and Finn smacked her back. She bit the head off her gingerbread man and turned her attention back to the party, an absurd amount of people crammed into their tiny living room, a Christmas movie playing on the television in the background. Luke was keeping half an eye on the fire in the fireplace, making sure it didn’t die down.

“No, no, I promise, it’s good shit,” Poe was promising as he lured Han and Leia up to the counter where all the food was laid out. “Tell them, Finn.”

“What am I lying about?” Finn asked, and Poe and Leia both laughed, Han just smirking a little as he accepted the glass of spiked eggnog that Rey passed him.

“No, you’re telling the _truth_ about how good my _very_ traditional Christmas Eve meal is,” Poe clarified, and Han raised an eyebrow at the food spread out before him.

“I hate to tell you, kid, but I think more of turkey and mashed potatoes when I think of ‘traditional Christmas foods,’ not tamales and rice,” Han pointed out, and Poe started making him and Leia two plates of food, a third off to the side, presumably for Luke.

“I meant traditional for _me_ , not for _you_ ,” Poe told him, handing one of the plates over. Leia accepted the one he offered to her graciously.

“Your mother used to make the same things every year,” Leia commented, picking up one of the peppers that had fallen out of the tamale and popping it into her mouth. At Poe’s saddened expression, she reached up to cup his jaw, stroking her thumb under his eye. He offered her a soft smile, and she gave a watery smile back. “Estoy muy orgullosa de ti. I’m proud of you.”

“Muchas gracias, tía,” Poe murmured, letting Leia tug him down to kiss him on the forehead. She pat him on the cheek and stepped away to allow Chewie space to get food at the counter. Han took a glass of cinnamon rum punch before heading back to his armchair. Finn watched with a laugh as Han handed off the tamale to Ben, who looked baffled by the food in front of him.

“So,” Poe asked, trying not to trip over Artoo as the furball darted underneath his legs. He leaned against the counter, grinning up at Finn. “Enjoying the party?”

“You know it,” Finn replied dryly, still grinning despite himself. Poe always saw right through him anyways, and his boyfriend leaned up to kiss him before stretching around him to peck Rey on the cheek.

“Looks like Karé might be losing,” Rey commented, leaving them alone to go watch the intense chess game. Poe leaned into Finn, the two of them looking over the party together.

“Not too shabby, eh?” Poe remarked, bumping their shoulders together. Finn nodded, sipping at his wine.

“It’s a nice party,” Finn agreed, and Poe shook his head a little bit.

“I mean, yeah, it is, but that’s not what I meant.” Poe drank from his glass, turning around to lean his back against the counter, looking up at Finn. “I meant all of this, you know. Christmas. Our first Christmas together. Our lives. All these people _in_ our lives. You know what I’m saying?”

“I do,” Finn said. “Yeah, I do.” He looked down at Poe, who smiled back warmly. He leaned over to kiss him again. “It’s almost midnight.”

“Oh, well, damn, you’re right.” Poe straightened up and checked his watch.

“And why did you want me to remind you when it was midnight, again?” Finn asked, and Poe reached into his pants pocket. His pants were deliciously tight, Finn noted, glancing casually from Poe’s thighs down to his ankles. His sweater was loose, hanging low on his frame, dark green with some sort of Christmas lamp on it, lights blinking from inside the sweater. He pulled the baby Jesus figurine out of his pocket and ran his thumb over its tiny painted face.

“Jesus goes in the nacimiento at midnight,” Poe informed him. He tossed Jesus in the air and caught it easily, seemingly ignorant to Finn’s tiny panic-induced stroke as he did so. “I have a couple other traditions, too.”

“And what are those?” Finn asked, taking Jesus when Poe passed him over, examining the details on the little figurine. Poe stuck his hands in his pockets, rocking back on his heels. Threepio and Artoo rocketed by him, Chewie trying to corral them back into the living room, and Poe grinned.

“Well, for one, there’s the abrazo de Navidad,” Poe told him. “The Christmas hug, you know. It’s supposed to be a love and unity thing. It makes everyone feel good. You do that after midnight, too.”

“I like that one.” Finn handed Jesus back over, but Poe shook his head, reaching out to close Finn’s fingers around Jesus.

“I want you to put him in the manger,” Poe explained. “You’re just as much a part of these traditions as I am. I want you to do the honor.” Poe reached out to cup Finn’s jaw, pulling him in to kiss. “Is that okay?”

“Very,” Finn agreed, his voice small. He kissed Poe back again, and again. “Any other traditions left tonight?”

“Well, my grandmother used to insist we open our gifts after midnight, but my parents liked the whole idea of Christmas morning more,” Poe told him. “So I thought-”

“Poe Dameron, if you suggest anything more than _one_ gift, I’ll sue you,” Rey commented, appearing at Poe’s elbow to flick his ear. Poe swatted her away.

“One gift is fine,” Poe laughed. Finn took another sip of his wine.

“So, Jesus is born, then we all hug, then we give each other one gift,” Finn listed, and Poe nodded. He checked his watch again before clapping his hands together until everyone looked at him.

“Hola, caramba, feliz Navidad,” Poe called, and he got a chorus of varying replies in return. “It’s time for the head of the house to put the baby Jesus into the nacimiento!”

Leia raised her glass and cheered loudly, Han grinning at her side as Luke burst into applause, the rest of the party following his lead. Poe nudged Finn forwards, and Finn ignored the eyes on him to cross the apartment and gingerly settle Jesus into his manger. Poe roared in excitement, reeling Finn in with an arm around his shoulders to kiss his cheek.

“Now, it’s time for the abrazo de Navidad,” Poe exclaimed. Jess leapt up from the sofa.

“This is my favorite part!” she announced, throwing her arms around Rey and tugging her in to hug. Slip hesitantly watched as everyone started hugging until Chewie went over and drew him into the tightest squeeze Finn had ever seen between two strangers. Poe turned Finn to face him and hugged him tightly, kissing his ear before he pulled away and let Leia haul them both in.

“Can we do gifts now?” Rey called out over the din, and Poe sought her out and nodded. She grinned happily and turned to Finn. “I’m going to jump on you now,” she declared, before she leapt up onto Finn’s back, covering his eyes. Finn laughed as he was plunged into darkness.

“Okay, what’d you do?” Finn asked, and Rey’s breath appeared near his ear.

“Just you wait,” she sang, excited. She wrapped her legs around his waist and steadied herself there, apparently waiting for something to happen. “Hey, is it okay if Leia touches your hands?”

Finn nodded, “Yeah,” and Leia’s cold hands pulled his arms out and turned his hands so his palms were facing upwards. Finn waited patiently, curious to see what was coming, when he heard Poe clear his throat somewhere in front of him just as something warm was placed in his hands. He frowned, pulling whatever it was in towards him gingerly, feeling something soft and wriggling under his hands. Rey lifted her hands off of his face and Finn had to blink a couple of times to clear his eyes before he understood what he was seeing.

“Is this a puppy?” Finn asked, incredulously. He cradled the happily wriggling puppy against his chest, looking up at Poe as he felt tears start to treacherously fill his eyes. “Oh, Poe, god _damnit_ -”

“Corgis are good for emotions,” Rey told him, bouncing up and down next to him. “And they can wake you up.”

“And you deserve her, mi cariño,” Poe finished. He stepped a little closer, and Finn held up the dog, who excitedly licked Poe’s face before returning her attention to Finn, happy as anything Finn had ever seen. He reached up to brush the tears away before they could fall. The puppy was orange and white, pointed ears sticking up, big brown eyes bright as she started licking Finn’s face.

“Thank you,” Finn murmured, pulling the dog in to kiss the top of her head. He shifted the dog to one arm so he could reach out and tug Poe in to kiss him, bruisingly deep, trying to thank him for the gift and for understanding him and for his first real Christmas and for being him, every layer and element at once. Poe laughed into his mouth, seemingly knowing everything Finn was trying to say without words.

* * *

**_December 25th_ **

Finn blinked his eyes open when the sun hit his eyelids just wrong, long into the next day. The party had gone on until late last night - or early this morning, it had gone on so long - and Finn was fairly certain it was going to be past noon. He stared at the ceiling for a moment, wondering absently if Ben might still be passed out, dead asleep, on their couch like he was when Han and Leia were getting ready to leave. When he glanced to his side, Poe was still fast asleep, spread out on his back, BB-8 curled up on his chest, so named for the fur patterns on her back that Finn argued looked exactly like they read ‘BB-8’.

“Hey,” Finn whispered, and Poe’s eyes snapped open, years in the military training them both into being light sleepers. He settled when he saw it was Finn looking back at him. Poe stretched languidly, like a cat in the sun, yawning as he did so. BB-8 was unbothered by his movements, just turning her head to the side. “Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas to you, too,” Poe murmured, reaching up to rub at his eye with the heel of his hand. “How’d you sleep?”

“I had weird dreams,” Finn told him, letting Poe draw him into his side, settling his head on Poe’s shoulder, watching BB-8 sleep. “You?”

“I’m happy it’s Christmas,” Poe told him. “Wait, what time is it?”

Finn reached over Poe to pick up his watch. “It’s 12:22. Why?”

Poe groaned, and BB-8 lifted her head, one of her pointy little ears tickling Finn’s nose. “We’re supposed to set off fireworks at noon. It’s a tradition.”

“Well, how about we start a new tradition?” Finn suggested, wrapping an arm around Poe’s waist. BB-8 wriggled herself in between the two of them, basking in their shared body heat. “We stay in bed until one, then we get up, make breakfast, give each other gifts, and we can set fireworks off at night. How’s that?”

“I think that sounds perfect,” Poe agreed, kissing the top of Finn’s head. Finn tilted his head back to look at him and grin, just as they heard Rey shriek through the wall.

“Santa came!” she called, and Poe laughed.

“Staying in bed until 12:30 is good, too, though,” Finn commented, hauling himself up out of bed, BB-8 tucked into his arms, her little head burrowed into the material of his pajamas. Poe followed him out into the living room where Rey was already waiting, three mugs of hot chocolate on the table, their stockings lined up on the sofa, Rey grinning happily from her spot beside the tree.

“Merry Christmas,” she exclaimed, hugging them both, taking BB-8 when she excitedly started to stir at Rey’s voice. “Oh, hello, BB-8, good morning, merry Christmas!”

Finn watched Rey take BB-8 over to the tree, letting her sniff around the gifts stacked up under it, the ornaments that dangled low enough for her to reach, and Poe wrapped an arm around his waist, tugging him in to kiss him on the temple.

“I hope you had a good Christmas,” Poe murmured in his ear, and Finn shrugged an arm around Poe’s shoulders and turned to kiss him back.

“The best,” he promised, and Poe kissed him again, snow falling outside the window, tree lights twinkling, Christmas in the air.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry about the inconsistencies in length in each part!
> 
> Translations:  
> belén = nativity scene  
> nacimiento = nativity  
> Estoy muy orgullosa de ti. = I'm very proud of you.  
> Muchas gracias, tía. = Thank you so much, auntie.  
> Hola, caramba, feliz Navidad! = Hello, goodness gracious, merry Christmas!  
> mi cariño = my love
> 
> Here's [Poe's sweater](http://www.uglychristmassweater.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/fragile-leg-lamp-light-up-ugly-christmas-sweater.jpg) at the party and here's [BB-8](http://luida.l.u.pic.centerblog.net/chiot.jpg).
> 
> This was basically organized as: 1. decorating; 2. advent; 3. nativity; 4. burn the fucking devil at 6pm; 5. virgin feast; 6. mistletoe; 7. eggnog; 8. fireside; 9. being cold and warming up with Poe's jacket or whatever; 10. carols; 11. Christmas Eve; 12. tis the season!
> 
> You can follow me on Twitter at [@nicoIodeon](https://twitter.com/nicoIodeon) or on Tumblr at [andillwriteyouatragedy](http://andillwriteyouatragedy.tumblr.com/).


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